I guess Macy's couldn't afford to pay double rent to keep the competition away any longer. Fingers crossed for Nordstrom to take over the Needless Markup space downtown, but this definitely makes it less likely. At some point Van Maur should increase their footprint in the Twin Cities, right? Currently they have a single store in Eden Prairie Center.

I like your optimism...but I have said it before...I don't know how anyone could have ever thought Nordstrom would take over the Neiman's space. Downtown retail isn't healthy...the Macy's downtown has some of the lowest sales numbers of any of the locations in the market. I'd love to see another nice, large dept store, but I just don't see anything like that happening downtown in the near future.

At least Target seems to do very well!

Hopefully I am wrong, and Herbergers or Von Maur will show interest in the space...I just don't see it happening though. More likely, I see it being broken up and partially converted to office. First, it will probably just sit there until the building has a new owner, because brookfield isn't going to put any money into it. I hope it doesn't just sit vacant with no activity forever...and that Brookfield will sell it to someone who actually wants to throw money at it, and reposition the space into whatever. But I digress, now I am talking downtown retail in the suburban thread! Oh dear!

twincitizen wrote:The Macy's downtown has some of the lowest sales numbers of any of the locations in the market. I'd love to see another nice, large dept store, but I just don't see anything like that happening downtown in the near future.

[offtopic]I agree that we're unlikely to see another department store coming downtown, but do you have any back-up information regarding sales at the downtown Macy's? It always seems quite busy to me -- maybe nobody's buying anything, but there's definitely a ton of foot traffic.[/offtopic]

Just a couple of friends that work in the mens suit departments at other stores...they all get store over store sales comparison reports, and know eachothers goals and such. Ridgedale has the highest numbers of any in the market...which is why they are investing so much in that store now. Total remodel, and 83,000 square foot addition in order to combine their stores there in to one.

There is a ton of foot traffic at the downtown store, and the basement is super busy at lunch...I think the store does okay as a whole...but when I asked about the numbers recently, my friends both said "not so good". I don't think it is going anywhere, it isn't a ghost town, like the St. Paul one. Just isn't one of their huge money makers.

Oof. Hopefully St. Paul shoppers (my Mom and the other 3) take their business to Maplewood. Losing Macy's would be a death knell for that mall. I don't think it would go full Brookdale, but it would definitely hurt. The strength and stronger store offerings of Rosedale, plus the introduction of Woodbury Lakes has taken $ away from the Maplewood Mall area for sure. You could also point to stagnant/falling household incomes in that particular area of the metro as another symptom. I managed a restaurant near Maplewood Mall for several years and would like to see the area remain prosperous. I grew up in Woodbury before it had "mall stores" and have memories of going to Maplewood Mall (and SunRay, before it hit the fan) for back to school shopping. Would you believe SunRay's main anchor at one point was JCPenny? Crazy.

The area around Maplewood Mall (and the mall itself given the renovation) has changed a ton compared to when I was little, so hopefully that new development full of residential and office developments west of the mall helps out the area a bit. I like how the mall expanded the park and ride to meet growing demands for commuters while Rosedale cancelled their lease for commuter parking, even though I still park there since the 87 does not go to any other Roseville P&R. Other than the holiday retail season, the park and ride at Rosedale wasn't really causing problems with parking. Would you say the P&R's in mall lots is beneficial for the malls itself or is it just a bad place to put them? I like them and Maplewood seems too as well, but I guess Rosedale doesn't.

mnmike wrote:Just a couple of friends that work in the mens suit departments at other stores...they all get store over store sales comparison reports, and know eachothers goals and such. Ridgedale has the highest numbers of any in the market...which is why they are investing so much in that store now. Total remodel, and 83,000 square foot addition in order to combine their stores there in to one.

There is a ton of foot traffic at the downtown store, and the basement is super busy at lunch...I think the store does okay as a whole...but when I asked about the numbers recently, my friends both said "not so good". I don't think it is going anywhere, it isn't a ghost town, like the St. Paul one. Just isn't one of their huge money makers.

The lowest in order, I was told, are St Paul, Maplewood, then Mpls.

That's funny because downtown Macy's has by far the best suiting department of any other Macy's I've seen (I've been in Downtown, MOA, Rosedale, and Southdale). I guess all goes back to my thesis from the Downtown Retail Thread that Minnesota has no fashion sense.

twincitizen wrote:The downtown Minneapolis Macy's needs some refreshing and better signage, but it very likely has the largest Men's selection in the Twin Cities, aside from maybe MOA.

Since it was the former flagship of Dayton's, isn't it the most upscale out of the bunch? I really haven't walked around inside there for a couple years, but last time I was there I saw a Louis Vuitton section, and a bunch more upscale brands compared to what I would see at Rosedale or Maplewood. Plus the Macy's at MoA probably doesn't carry too many luxury brands because they had their upscale sister store on the other end of the mall until recently, but I don't know for sure because I never walked inside that one.

Hey, I am just telling you what my friend that sells suits at Ridgedale Macy's and another guy I know at Southdale see on the reports/goals. Make what you will of it. Who knows if they are even reading them correctly. Though they are sales based jobs, so I would assume they would be, and that they have a pretty good understanding of these things.

PS, Suburban outcast, there used to be a Louis Vuitton mini store at the downtown Macy's, that closed and that space is now vacant.

The downtown still has a great huge deli area in the basement (what used to be Dayton's Marketplace section). They have good stuff, and are hopping at lunch. I am not even sure the surburban locations have these sections anymore? I haven't checked in those for that section in a while. Downtown also has the Skyroom food court.

mnmike wrote:The downtown still has a great huge deli area in the basement (what used to be Dayton's Marketplace section). They have good stuff, and are hopping at lunch. I am not even sure the surburban locations have these sections anymore? I haven't checked in those for that section in a while. Downtown also has the Skyroom food court.

Many of the suburban Macy's stores still have their Marketplace delis, although they've been rebranding them as TasteBars over the last year or so. I worked at the Maplewood deli for 6 years, and there was always constant chatter among the employees about when Macy's would be fed up with food service and close all of the Marketplaces, but it hasn't happened. Closing them would be a huge loss for mall customers and employees looking for something better than the food court.

I know the Ridgedale one has a nice sit down restaurant that is really good. Anyone know a good place to park for the downtown Macy's? I have never been there, but it sounds like they have the best selection for men's clothing.

go4guy wrote:Anyone know a good place to park for the downtown Macy's? I have never been there, but it sounds like they have the best selection for men's clothing.

The best place to park when going to Macy's is the Dayton's Ramp (presumably has a different name but I still call it this), located immediately adjacent to Macy's and accessible off of 7th or 8th. They validate evenings and weekend with purchase. This is also the best place to park if you're going to First Avenue. Keep this to yourself, though.

Nope, I think you are thinking of Moss Optical...which was in the Shinders building (now Shea) and moved to LaSalle plaza. I have never seen that building be anything.. I always assumed it had something to do with HVAC or some other utilitarian use...but I don't know.

go4guy wrote:Anyone know a good place to park for the downtown Macy's? I have never been there, but it sounds like they have the best selection for men's clothing.

The best place to park when going to Macy's is the Dayton's Ramp (presumably has a different name but I still call it this), located immediately adjacent to Macy's and accessible off of 7th or 8th. They validate evenings and weekend with purchase. This is also the best place to park if you're going to First Avenue. Keep this to yourself, though.

Not sure if it does or not, but the parking stub still says Dayton's Ramp.

MOA has more suits than Downtown, but Downtown has better suits, and Downtown has more dress shirts, and probably more dress pants (though now that I think about it, I've never bought Dress pants downtown so I don't actually know where they are).

Ok, the name will probably be Office Depot, since they are the larger chain nationally. This will have the largest impact on the Twin Cities market since OfficeMax is the largest chain here.

This will result in a new batch of vacant big box stores following the merger. It's possible that Staples will open a few more stores here, as they are relatively new to the MN market and have few locations.